The XFL

Tennessee had been playing as well as anyone in the league. Through its first eight games, the Titans had lost only 24-22 at San Francisco, then handed the Rams their first defeat, 24-21. Steve McNair had only recently settled in as their starting quarterback. Years later he would share the league MVP award, but for now he was still climbing.

Nolan and his three coaches agreed that the Titans had not found a secret formula against St. Louis. The Rams had made uncharacteristic mistakes and paid for them.

Now Tennessee was coming to Los Angeles fresh off that win. The Angels wanted their own answer after losing to the Rams, and Grace reported that more than ninety percent of individual seats had sold across every price tier.

The revived Cleveland Browns, also new to the league that season, had not filled their stadium as reliably. The Angels had a draw that Cleveland lacked.

Nolan's presence drove it. He had held his own against established quarterbacks, won a Super Bowl the year before, and played with a visible edge. The new franchise could sell hope with his face on the ticket.

Endorsements made him harder to miss. Beer, cars, clothes, shoes, watches: his commercials and billboards were everywhere. The deals had brought him close to fifteen million dollars after taxes before the season was done, and menswear labels such as Structure wanted longer arrangements.

The schedule helped too. Since the Denver game, almost every Angels contest had been close and watchable. The Rams matchup drew an audience few regular-season games could match.

Other famous names from the decade were fading or missing time. Steve Young was out, and Troy Aikman's era was nearing its end. Peyton Manning was still building his reputation, and Tom Brady had not entered the league. Nolan filled the space between one generation of stars and the next.

A smaller group of fans came for the cheer squad. Kelsey, Rachel, Belinda, and Kristen each had followers of their own, and some of those people had started watching Angels football because of them.

Before the Titans game, the squad gave everyone something new to talk about.

The stadium announcer introduced three guest performers. Gisele, Adriana, and Alessandra came onto the field in white, feathered Angels uniforms and joined the adult squad's choreographed routine. Nolan had kept the appearance quiet, so the crowd reacted at once. Viewers who remembered his London photographs started guessing which model had been with him. Izabel attended separately with her guardian as a young agency guest; she was not part of the routine or its adult publicity.

Reporters surrounded Gisele afterward and asked whether she and Nolan were dating.

"Yes," she said without hesitation. She told them they had known each other for some time and mentioned his interest in a modeling agency.

The other adult models did not contradict her. When asked about their own connection to Nolan, Alessandra and Adriana answered stiffly. Alessandra knew what had happened at the hotel. She had gone to Izabel afterward, angry, only to learn that Nolan had asked the younger girl ordinary questions. Izabel had not betrayed anyone. Alessandra herself had given away Sarah's approach and drawn Adriana into it.

Nolan had not sought either woman out privately since then. Perhaps practice kept him busy; neither knew.

On the field, the jet screen and its growing number of variations kept Tennessee from settling into a defense. Nolan did not give the Titans the kind of turnover Warner had given them. Los Angeles won a game many had expected it to win.

The next day's sports pages compared the Angels' passing game with the Rams' Greatest Show on Turf. Commentators wondered whether attacks built around the run were giving way to a more pass-heavy age.

The guest appearance generated its own coverage. Some young fans who had followed only the games began paying attention to the squad. Nolan's wealth, youth, athletic fame, and complicated private life made him an object of fascination and criticism alike. Some women who followed him were disappointed by the spectacle, but the increased attention to the cheerleaders was real.

After the game he told reporters he wanted the Angels squad to work with more established magazines. It sounded almost like an invitation to Sports Illustrated.

Instead, Christie Hefner turned up at the club. "She's in your office," Grace told him. "She says she has to speak with you today."

Nolan had not asked her to come, and he thought their last call had settled things. Still, he told Grace to let her in.

"Congratulations," Christie said with a bright smile. "At this rate the Angels will be in the playoffs before anyone knows it."

"I appreciate the interest. What did you actually come to discuss?"

He had met her years earlier at one of Hugh Hefner's parties. She talked now about how many Playboy employees in Los Angeles had become Angels fans and how the club might own the Southern California market. In this expansion-era alignment, the Angels were competing for attention with other California teams, especially a struggling San Diego club deprived of some of its familiar matchups.

"If you're here for early payment, we can stop now." Nolan leaned back at his desk.

"You could forget the remaining balance altogether. The Angels squad and Playboy are already working closely; call it a concession to a partner and proof we're serious." The warmth was a remarkable change from their phone call.

"Partners? I thought we had finished what we started." He knew she wanted another way into the Angels' growing audience.

"I owe you an apology for my tone. We could do much more together."

Christie had considered the cheer project a disappointment until Nolan's promotion made the squad visible. She had come back because she no longer wanted to be left outside its next success.

"We can give the Angels squad a cover and include its adult performers in our annual Playmate selection," she said. "I could even guarantee the top three places to women you choose, if they want to take part." She was offering influence over the center of what the magazine still did best.

"And when you change your mind halfway through?"

"We intend to remove nudity from the magazine and turn it into a fashion-and-celebrity publication, closer to Vanity Fair," Christie said. "Dad and I have tried other approaches. The Angels might be the bridge to that audience." Nolan understood the pressure behind the proposal: print habits were changing, and the internet would make the old model harder to defend. Christie wanted to move before the market forced her hand.

He still shook his head. The terms had value, but he had no reason to rescue Playboy. "Talk to the DCC."

"The Angels could be bigger. We can offer equity, too. Lisa's agency has worked well with us; we could hand our entire talent-representation business to her." Christie had reached the strongest offer she could make without her father.

"What we really want is you," she added. Through Lisa, she knew Nolan's interests spanned film, performers, and football. He had worked with media companies as a customer and partner, but he had never owned a serious piece of one. That made her proposal harder to dismiss.

"Twenty percent," Nolan said. It was a high opening number, but he knew how concentrated the company's voting power remained and how badly Christie wanted the deal.

"That's far too much."

She had come prepared to offer five percent and perhaps stretch to eight. Twenty would put him uncomfortably close to the kind of stake held by the family. They were not going to settle it across the desk. Nolan sent her to speak with Hugh and ask for a second offer. She was the one in a hurry.

Hugh called that evening while Nolan was eating dinner. He offered fifteen percent. Nolan took the deal, subject to lawyers putting the terms in writing.

Hugh wanted more than the cheer squad involved. He hoped Lisa's adult clients, Nolan's models, and his Hollywood contacts would consider interviews and features as the magazine changed direction. Nolan agreed to make introductions, with each adult artist choosing whether to participate. He did not intend to run Playboy day to day or finance every new idea. The immediate collaboration would include interviews with willing adult models and Angels cheerleaders. Izabel, a minor, was not part of it.

A few days later, Nolan was due in Ohio with Gisele for her Victoria's Secret meeting.

Before that, an unusual NFL owners' meeting demanded his attention. Grace normally represented him at routine sessions. This time the invitation came directly to him.

Members of the Hunt and Rooney-Mara families had called separately. Both wanted every available owner in the room.

"Someone is putting together a league to compete with the NFL," one of them said.

Nolan had not expected the challenge to arrive so soon. The next day, sports desks across the country carried the story.

Vince McMahon's wrestling company and NBC were joining forces to fund a new professional football league: the XFL. Nolan remembered that news arriving months later. His own place in the NFL had changed more than one schedule.